Calendar

September

Moscas en Leche (that's espanol for "flies in milk"), a media/performance project opening tonight at 6 at the Randolph Street Gallery, showcases Miss Dionne d'Love, a towering diva in a white satin hoop skirt. The work's creator, LA artist Alex Donis, who will be on hand for Miss d'Love's performance, explains that the title is a Latin American slur "used when a person of dark-colored skin wears too much white." He adds, "Issues concerning race, color, and language are merely the subtext of the piece. I often see my work as a "fly in the milk' of most clean, white gallery spaces." Performances are also scheduled for tomorrow and next Friday and Saturday, September 23 and 24, at 6 PM. The video portion of the installation will be on view through October 1 at the gallery, 756 N. Milwaukee. Hours are 12 to 6 Tuesday through Saturday. It's free. Call 666-7737 for details.

Trackers of that increasingly rare species Gadflyicus americanicus can check out one of its finest specimens tonight when William Kunstler hits town to talk about his new book, My Life as a Radical Lawyer. The New York attorney has worked for some of the most high-profile defendants of the past quarter century--from the Chicago Seven to John Gotti--and hasn't shrunk from commenting on many others. Kunstler appears at Borders Books & Music, 49 S. Waukegan in Deerfield, tonight at 7:30. It's free. Call 708-559-1999.

Saturday 17

Milu--the fashion design team of Miriam Kaufman and Luisa Gasiewski--have been wowing 'em in New York with their elegant peasant-influenced creations. "As cool, calm, and collected as fashion gets," adjudged the New York Times. The pair are being feted from 11 to 7 today at Toshiro, a clothing store at 3309 N. Clark, where you can check out their full fall line and munch on Great Harvest Bakery bread and jam. It's free. Call 248-1487.

Chicago Tonight's unflappable John Callaway hosts an ACLU-sponsored look at the Fourth Amendment called From the CHA to OJ. The amendment, for those without a copy of the Bill of Rights handy, says, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated." Panelists like U.S. district court judge Milton Shadur and the ACLU's Harvey Grossman will cover the amendment's role in public housing sweeps, the Nicole Simpson murder case, and the government's war on drugs today at 1:30 at the Assembly Hall of the James R. Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph. It costs $10, $5 for students. Call 201-9740.

If you already know what a valiha, kaposy, jejy, and sodina are, you've probably already got your tickets for Madagascan world-music performers Tarika at the Old Town School of Folk Music tonight. If you don't, they're a bamboo zither, a small guitar, a gourd dulcimer, and a flute, and you can check them out in use at shows at 7 and 10 tonight at the school, 909 W. Armitage. Tix are $11 to $15. Call 525-7793 for more.

Sunday 18

Now in its fifth year, Chicago's annual AIDS Walk hopes to raise more than $1 million for 13 local organizations. The walk begins at Monroe Harbor near the Columbia Yacht Club, goes south to the Shedd Aquarium, and then back. Registration begins at 9 AM at the harbor; opening ceremonies are at 10, and the walk begins at 11. Call 665-1700 or 935-9255 for details.

Chicago's love affair with George Bernard Shaw goes back decades: a few of his plays had their American premieres here, and a society formed by Cultural Affairs czar Lois Weisberg actively promoted his works in the 1950s. Shaw Chicago, a new project of her department, is attempting to revive interest in the playwright with a free staged reading of The Apple Cart, a 1929 farce in which England's economy depends entirely on the production of chocolate cream. The reading, staged by director Andrew Callis, features a lineup of Equity and non-Equity actors. Performances are at 3 this afternoon, 7 PM tomorrow, 3 PM next Sunday, September 25, and 7 PM next Monday, September 26, in the Studio Theater of the Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington. Reservations are recommended. Call 744-7648.

Monday 19

Chicagoan Susan Power, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, gives a free reading from her first novel, The Grass Dancer, today at 12:15 at the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State. It happens in the seventh-floor Chicago Authors Room. Call 747-4700.

Tuesday 20

It's Poetry Day again, already! To mark the 40th occurrence of the annual celebration, begun by Chicago's Poetry magazine in 1955, poet Billy Collins will read from his four collections, including The Apple That Astonished Paris and Questions About Angels. The event is $10, $5 for students and seniors. It's in First Chicago Center, Monroe and Dearborn, at 6 PM. Call 280-4870.

A documentary called Unzipped follows the development of Isaac Mizrahi's 1994 fall line and comes complete with cameos by fashion notables. As part of a Marshall Field's fund-raiser for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, the film will be shown at 6 tonight at the Esquire Theater, 58 E. Oak; after that, guests trundle over to the Water Tower Marshall Field's for a reception that includes music from Koko Taylor. The event costs $45. Call 642-5454 for more.

Wednesday 21

Newspaper editors are shy and retiring sorts; like cat burglars and pickpockets, they feel they do their jobs best out of the spotlight. The Chicago Headline Club has persuaded a cross section of the town's most powerful editors to come out of the shadows today for a Reverse Press Conference at Roosevelt University. Sun-Times managing editor Julia Wallace, Trib managing editor F. Richard Ciccone, Chicago Reporter editor Laura Washington, Crain's Chicago Business editor David Snyder, and Walter "Skippy" Jacobson will take questions from the audience at this free event, which begins with a reception at 5:30 in the Congress Lounge, on the second floor of Roosevelt's 430 S. Michigan building. Call 477-8229 for more.

Angels in America: Millennium Approaches won four Tony awards and scored Tony Kushner the Pulitzer Prize for his meditation on AIDS in America. A preview tonight at 7:30 at the Royal George Theatre Center, 1641 N. Halsted, benefits AIDS direct-care group Season of Concern and the radio show "Aware: Positive Health Talk Radio." The $60 ticket includes a 6:30 preshow reception across the street at the Steppenwolf Theatre. Call Season of Concern at 641-0393 for more.

A pair of Chicago poets perform tonight as Betty's Mouth at a Guild Complex event at HotHouse, 1565 N. Milwaukee. Cin Salach is a mainstay of the Loofah Method, and Sheila Donohue was part of Chicago's 1992 National Poetry Slam team. Things get under way at 7:30; it's $5, $2 if you participate in the accompanying open mike. Call 278-2210.

Thursday 22

More than 400,000 albums, cassettes, CDs, instruments, and other musical items will be on sale at the 17th annual Old Orchard Mammoth Music & Record Mart. The event benefits the Les Turner ALS Foundation. Opening day, from 11 to 9 today, is $5; tomorrow through October 1 it's free; on the final day, October 2, when all items are at least 50 percent off, admission is $2. The sale happens in the southeast corner of Old Orchard Mall, Golf Road and Skokie Boulevard in Skokie. Call 708-674-6278.

In a charming bit of late-20th-century Americana, the voters of Oregon were asked to vote on a resolution declaring homosexuality "abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse." Filmmaker Heather MacDonald documents the successful battle to defeat the measure in Ballot Measure Nine, which makes its midwest premiere tonight at 7:30 at Chicago Filmmakers, 1543 W. Division. Tickets are $10; proceeds benefit the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Call 871-7633 for more.